


Magnificent Mons and the Methods of Meeting Them

by EndlessCharade



Category: Pocket Monsters: Sun & Moon | Pokemon Sun & Moon Versions
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Romantic Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-07
Updated: 2019-01-07
Packaged: 2019-10-05 23:11:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,831
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17334164
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EndlessCharade/pseuds/EndlessCharade
Summary: Lillie has left Alola Islands to go on her own journey to find her inner strength. But how do those left behind fare in the time that follows? Is Moon truly satisfied without her friend (and maybe more) by her side? Can Gladion truly be the leader that Aether Foundation needs?When a letter arrives at Aether Foundation from a gym leader in the Kalos region describing strange migration patterns of a Pokemon previously only seen in Alola, Gladion asks Moon to investigate. What she finds there, though, might be the answer to what she's been looking for all along.





	Magnificent Mons and the Methods of Meeting Them

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ShamanicShaymin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShamanicShaymin/gifts).



> The origin of this fic is simple: I wanted to write the cute and adorable fluff that Moon and Lillie deserve. I hope that it's enjoyable to read, because I sure as heck enjoyed writing it!

_ Aether Foundation _

_ Main Complex _

_ Alola Islands _ __  
_  
_ __ To Whom It May Concern,

_ I hope my correspondence finds you well. My name is Viola, and I am a gym leader and professional photographer from the Kalos region. I’m writing to seek your expertise regarding a sort of problem I’ve been observing. To be quite honest with you, I don’t even know if it even IS a problem, per se, only an oddity that I think bears looking into. Like the lens of a camera, once my mind is focused on something, I must capture every aspect of it! _

_ Here in Kalos, we have a number of pokemon that fall under a protected status, and even among the ones that aren’t, we are sometimes very concerned with the migrations and cross-interactions between various pokemon. While this is not something we can fully monitor, as trainers traveling between regions bring regional variations with them, the occurrence of wild pokemon unattached to any trainer that appear to migrate between regions is something that seems concerning. I have enclosed a photograph of a bug that I have never seen before, intermingling with the combee among the flowers. I am hoping that the conservation efforts and vast research conducted by the Aether Foundation can provide insight into what I am seeing and what should be done about it. _

_ Thank you, _

_ Viola _

_ Santalune City _

_ Kalos Region _

_ ~~~ Prologue: Gladion ~~~ _   


The Champion sat at the table across from Gladion, scanning the letter and the picture that he had slid over to her. She twirled a lock of her long, dark hair with the index finger of one hand, and it was all Gladion could do not to lean over the table and physically restrain her from doing that. It was an idle habit and ultimately a harmless one, but growing up with the mother he had the misfortune of being born to had served to drill a number of such habits out of him to an extreme degree.

Finally, she looked up at him, setting the picture down on the table. “It’s… a ribombee.”

Gladion sighed. “Yeah. It is.”

She slid the letter back across the table at him. “It’s  _ just _ a ribombee.”

He picked the letter up but didn’t look at it. He’d already read through it several times and couldn’t really discern what the point of it was. That was why he’d called the Champion and had her come see him in the main facility. Ever since she had so thoroughly beaten him during their rematch a few weeks after she had, in fact, become the Champion, they had cultivated something of a decent working relationship with each other. Of course, most of that relationship existed because he knew he was out of his depth as acting chairman of the Aether Foundation, but he didn’t have to let her know that. He racked his brain for something intelligent to say, but the only thing he could think of to say was just repeating his previous three words with different emphasis. “ _ Yeah _ . It  _ is _ .”

She was still looking at the picture, and after a moment she scrunched up her face as if this would give her some deeper insight into the exact nature of what she was supposed to be seeing there. “But what is it doing all the way in  _ Kalos _ ?”   
  
Gladion wanted to scream. Instead, he took about four deep breaths just like Wicke had told him to do whenever he wanted to punch several new holes in the very expensive decor of the Foundation. It helped enough for him to form words. “If I knew  _ that _ , I wouldn’t have  _ called _ you here.” He sighed, then. “Sorry. Look, my sister was always better at this stuff. It’s not like ribombee are endangered or anything, even if they aren’t exactly  _ common _ . It’s just… well, I didn’t think they could cross an ocean.”   
  
The Champion blinked, thinking about this for a moment. “Air currents?” she ventured.

“Heck if  _ I _ know.” Gladion replied. “That’s what the weather nerds are for. Look. I’m still trying to piece together how to  _ run _ this place from a combination of my mom’s insane notes and Wicke’s maddeningly  _ sane _ ones. So, while I’m doing  _ that _ , could you  _ please _ take a short vacation to Kalos and see what this is all about?”

She tilted her head to the side. “Uh. You realize that involves a plane ticket, right?”   


This was one question Gladion  _ could _ answer. “Bill it to the Foundation. Just...don’t be a jerk and go overboard with it, okay? Wicke is… kind of scary when her balance sheets don’t, you know. Balance.”

“That actually doesn’t surprise me in the least. Look. I’m not going to go buying the Prism Tower or anything.” She stood up and tucked the picture into her satchel before slinging it over her shoulder. “...That  _ is _ in Kalos, right? Geography has never been my strong point.”

“...I weep for your teachers.” Gladion said, standing up himself.  _ He _ had private tutors up until he’d run away, so no matter how deficient he felt in his current role, at the very least he had a baseline of knowledge that he’d hid from his Team Skull lest they think  _ he _ was a big nerd  _ himself _ . “This trip will be good for you.  _ You’ll _ get smarter,  _ I’ll _ be able to train while you’re gone, and then we can have that rematch. Uh. Speaking of. Who’s going to be acting Champion while you’re gone?”   
  
The girl didn’t even miss a beat as she snatched the letter away from Gladion and stuffed that into her satchel, too. “Hau.”   
  
“Are yo-” Gladion started, a shocked expression on his face.   
  
“And as he will be acting Champion, you are within your rights to duel  _ him _ for the title.” she stated. Then, she smirked to him. “ _ If _ you can bring yourself to  _ do _ it,  _ Gladdy _ .” She punctuated this with a wink, which just informed Gladion that she knew for a fact that Hau was the  _ one _ person that he  _ wouldn’t _ do that to. Which, he realized, was exactly why she’d made him acting Champion to begin with.

“You’re  _ cold _ .” Gladion stated.

“See you in a couple weeks!” the Champion said, a cheerful note in her voice as she sauntered out of the room, waving to Gladion as she made her exit.

_ ~~~ The Thousand Miles: Moon ~~~ _

The Champion-In-Absentia of the Alola Islands Region of the Pokemon League, who had been given the name ‘Moon’ by her mother, stepped out of the short walkway between the plane and the terminal and stretched. “Nnnngh!” She exclaimed, as she lifted up on the balls of her feet and reached her arms as high above her head as she could. She then let out a breath and stumbled forward, having been made slightly dizzy by the sudden rush of blood to her head. She would never be used to flying, even though she was quite grateful to Gladion for letting her take this trip on the Foundation’s dime.

She knew she had slightly badgered him into it on some level. She didn’t really feel bad about it, mostly because it was Gladion. She liked him well enough, and she had to admit that Hau had brought out a bit more of his good side, and if she were being  _ really _ honest with herself she would admit that she did like spending as much time with them  _ together _ as she did. All that said, she liked giving him heck whenever possible, because that was how she  _ was _ toward friendly rivals.

She followed the signs toward the baggage claim and lingered by the carousel for the ten minutes or so that it took for her bag to be jostled past her. It was heavy, though not  _ too _ heavy for her to lift off of the moving conveyor and down onto the floor. She popped the handle up and kicked the suitcase so that it tilted onto its wheels before pulling it behind her and exiting through the security gate.

Moon had a vague idea of who it was she was looking for. She’d done her research on the gym leaders of other regions once she had become Champion and settled into her role. Viola had stood out to her because even though she was considered nobility here on Kalos, she had both become a gym leader and honed her photography skills to what most would consider an extreme degree. That sort of motivation was rare in  _ any _ person, and such drive generally impressed Moon quite a bit. 

Even if Moon hadn’t known who she was looking for, she could see the wave that was clearly directed at her when she exited the security area. “Heyyyy!!” the woman called, and all but dashed over to her. “Hey! Moon, right? It’s really nice to meet you!” Viola was wearing sneakers, teal cargo capris, and a loose-fitting shirt, which was once again a far cry from what Moon had expected. It made her realize that she should just give up expecting  _ anything _ and just accept that despite all its differences, Kalos was probably pretty similar to anywhere else she’d ever been. 

Moon held out her hand and shook Viola’s. “Yeah! And you’re Viola, right? The bug photographer.” 

Viola smirked. “Bug gym leader. And photographer. I actually photograph other things besides  _ just _ bugs.” She shook Moon’s hand enthusiastically, and Moon decided pretty much right then that she  _ liked _ this woman. “I will admit, you’re not the person I expected to see here.” she continued after the handshake broke and the pair started walking toward the terminal exit.

Moon raised her eyebrow. “Mm? Oh, yeah, sorry. I’m not an  _ actual _ Aether Foundation employee. It’s just that Gladion figured I’d be better at this sort of thing than he is.” Well, she was going to be  _ honest _ about it, because it’s the same thing Gladion said to  _ her _ . 

“That’s not what I mean.” Viola said. “I was kind of expecting Lusamine’s  _ daughter _ to be here.”

This sent a pang directly through Moon’s midsection.  _ Lillie. _ She missed Lillie deeply, and had spent a great deal of time trying to convince herself she didn’t miss Lillie as much as she  _ did _ . She had heard from the blonde-haired girl, of course. They’d exchanged several letters over the time they had been apart, and that was  _ something _ . But it wasn’t the  _ same _ . Something got lost over the distance and the translation of words onto paper, and Moon found that every time she read a letter, she just wanted Lillie  _ there _ .

Moon realized she hadn’t actually replied. “Oh. Yes, well, Lillie is currently conducting field research.” And had been, for a very long time. Granted, the  _ research _ that was being  _ conducted _ was a journey that Lillie had started in order to find her own inner strength. She’d just never actually come  _ back _ from that journey. “Besides. If I saw in that picture what I think I saw, I actually have more recent expertise on Alolan pokemon than Lillie does, so I think that I still would have been the one Gladion sent.”

Viola considered Moon for a brief moment, and Moon got the feeling that Viola’s eyes, like little camera lenses of the soul, were focused directly into her inner thoughts and feelings. “Well, I have every confidence in you.” she finally said. “Now, the best way to Santalune City from here is by bicycle. We could take a larger vehicle, but then you would miss all the sights and sounds of Kalos, and honestly  _ that _ experience shouldn’t be missed. And on top of that… it will give you just a little taste of why it’s so important that we get to the bottom of this.”

Moon nodded. She still felt like she was missing something important, so getting more context would be a good thing. Her mind still kept wandering to Lillie, though, and as they walked over to a stand where they could rent a couple of bicycles to venture through greater Lumiose City and then south, she could have sworn she saw a flash of the bright blonde hair that her friend was so proud of. “L-” she started, but then decided it was probably just her imagination. The population of Kalos, she had noticed, trended toward blonde hair anyway. That was what she had seen, of course. One of the locals.

Viola looked over at her and raised an eyebrow. “Did you say something?”

Moon tried to cover her own awkwardness with a cough. “Let’s… grab something to eat on our way? I’d love to try some of the local cuisine!” she said, hoping that she sounded more cheerful than she was feeling inside.

“Ah! Of course!” Viola said. “I know just the place.”

_ ~~~ _

The place that Viola brought Moon to was less of a restaurant in itself and more of a market row that specialized in a combination of local street food and ‘exotic’ cuisine to entice travelers from many different regions. Moon caught the familiar smells of Alolan food even as she tried to place some of the other, less familiar dishes being offered. She gently guided Viola toward the less-familiar sweet treats, as she wanted her first taste of Kalos to be something that she couldn’t get on the islands. What she ended up with was a colorfully-frosted honey cake that Viola had explained was part of a recent trend in Kalos of incorporating regional varieties of honey into everything.

“Wait.” Moon said, her mouth mere inches from the delicious-looking cake. “Isn’t honey the same no matter what? Honey is honey, right?”

“Well, that’s what most people would assume.” Viola said. “And honestly, most people are probably  _ right _ . I’ve tried several of these cakes and I can’t tell much of a difference between them, and  _ logically _ , there shouldn’t be that much variation. However, some people swear there’s a difference. Try it and see?”

Moon nodded. “Fair enough.” She bit into the cake and was greeted by a dazzlingly explosive burst of sweetness. “....Mmmh. Th’s ‘s d’lc’sh’s” she managed to say, and Viola gave a smile and a nod to show that she understood the general sentiment of what Moon was trying to convey. Once she had unceremoniously gobbled down the rest of the small cake, she gave Viola a huge, honey-soaked grin. “So, now that you say there’s a difference, I need to try one more. For comparison.” she said.

The second cake was just as good as the first. Astonishingly, Moon  _ could _ tell a slight difference in taste that she ordinarily would have just taken to be a variation in the vendors. But now that Viola had mentioned the thing about the honey, she asked, “So, where is this one from?”

Viola blinked. “Mm? Oh, you  mean the kind of honey? The vendor said it was from Santalune, so I wanted you to have a little taste of my hometown before we actually got down there!” 

Moon nodded, finishing off the cake. She couldn’t help but feel like there was something familiar about the taste, even though she hadn’t ever  _ been _ to Santalune. She shrugged. Alola had markets with imported sweets, too, so maybe she had just tasted something like it at some point in the past. She still wondered if there was some kind of importance there, but before she could mentally follow up on that, she was shaken from her thoughts by the brief sight of another head full of blonde hair that was arranged in a style that would have looked quite fetching on Lillie.

“....I’m a mess.” she murmured to herself.

“What was that?” Viola asked, glancing over to Moon once more.

“Uh, I said, that’s a really nice dress!” she covered, gesturing at a woman wearing a flowing ankle-length skirt of the kind that she could easily imagine her mother wearing now, or herself wearing in another half a lifetime. “Come on, I can’t wait to see your Santalune City!”

_ ~~~ Interlude: Ribombee ~~~ _

The ribombee flitted about the flowers as if they were the best thing he had ever seen in his short little life. Of course, he didn’t  _ know _ that his life had been short compared to the other beings that inhabited this world or even this field of flowers. He just knew that since he had evolved from a cutiefly, he had been taken to lots of wonderful new places, and that out of all of them, this one was the best one so far. This was mostly because there were all sorts of new flowers.

The ribombee didn’t really have a name in the same way that other beings had names. ribombee were a very interesting sort of creature, as they possessed both a collective intelligence common among bug-type creatures as well as some degree of individualism. As the actual individual name the ribombee considered for himself cannot be pronounced without wings, antennae, and the pollen of several flowers, the designation “910” will have to suffice.

Ninten, as he will be known in casual conversation, was becoming acquainted with a very interesting floette when his attention was drawn away by light glinting off of something in the distance. This was also something he had become quite used to, as the humans in this area liked to point reflective things that emitted bright flashes in his direction. He didn’t mind. They weren’t as bright as the sun, and he loved the sun. 

This time, the human who pointed the reflective thing at him more than any other human had a companion with her. This companion had a familiar feel to her, a scent that he could detect even over the short distance that he chose to maintain as he flitted about the flowers. This scent reminded him of home, of the place where he had first evolved from the cutiefly. This made Ninten very happy and energetic, and he flitted around a bit while the reflective bright thing was pointed at him.

He wondered if there were any more familiar things around, so after flitting around one more time, Ninten took his leave. He flitted from one patch of flowers to another, until finally he landed on something just as bright and yellow as a flower. It wasn’t a flower, though, it was a human with a head of bright yellow, of the kind that was common in that region. Ninten liked humans who were like that, because they reminded him of flowers. This human took an interest in him at the same time he took an interest in the human in return. She also felt different than the other humans around here, but not as familiar. Somewhat like home, but also somewhat very much not. He decided to remain curious and flit about for just a few more moments.

Just then, there was a vibration in the air that only Ninten and the other ribombee that were brought to this amazing new place could sense. Accompanying it was the scent of many flowers and also the feeling of home, so overwhelming that Ninten had no choice but to fly off in that direction. This happened every few days or so. Ninten didn’t mind. When Ninten went to that place, there were many flowers from home and many other ribombee. There were also always very interesting humans to flit around, some of them from home and some not. 

Ninten flew in that direction as fast as he could, completely ignoring the humans that were now following Ninten as best as they were able.

_ ~~~ The Journey: Moon ~~~ _

“So, run that by me again.” Viola said, as they knelt a short distance away from the warehouse that they had followed the ribombee to. “It’s about the  _ honey _ ?”

Moon nodded. “Yeah. Well. Kind of. It’s more about the  _ pollen _ , but the honey is the end result.”

Viola took a moment to glance through her camera, which she had fitted with a zoom lens. She frowned, adjusted the lens a little with a twist of her hand, and then nodded. Then she looked back at Moon. “How in the  _ world _ did you make that connection?”

Moon smiled. “So, back at the market street where we got those absolutely  _ delicious _ desserts, I did notice a difference in taste between the two honey pastries that I tried. If you hadn’t mentioned the regional differences in the honey, I would have just thought it was a difference in the way that each of the vendors bake the pastries or something. But since you  _ did _ mention it, I noticed something familiar about the taste. I couldn’t place it at the time, and then I got… momentarily distracted.”

Viola snickered. “By a pretty blonde in a dress.”

Moon rolled her eyes. “ _ Anyway _ , as we were following the Ribombee, it clicked. Pollen puffs.”

“Right.” Viola replied. “The Alolan thing. You can find them in the markets sometimes, and people like to bake with them. I still don’t see what that has to do with-”

Moon sighed. “The pollen puffs are Alolan because Ribombee are Alolan. It’s an  _ export _ . So it has to go through customs, and like, people have to pay  _ somebody _ some money because it’s moving between countries, right? Like, that’s how these things  _ work _ ?” she said. “But if Ribombee migrated to Kalos, it wouldn’t be an Alolan export anymore. It would be local. These jokers…” she gestured to the warehouse that Viola currently had her camera trained on, “...decided to help the migration along a bit.”

“Huh.” Viola said. “All that over some  _ pastries _ .”

Moon grinned. “Okay first of all, you have  _ got _ to be proud of me for this one. Second of all, food is a big deal. Take it from someone who loves her food.” She glanced at the warehouse again. “So… how do we play this?” she asked Viola.

Viola shrugged. “No idea. This is probably International Police territory. Except that the International Police aren’t  _ here _ , and these people could set up pretty much anywhere there’s flowers. Which means pretty much anywhere in Kalos. They could move tomorrow or in a week and the only way we’d find them is by finding more Ribombee.”

Moon nodded. “Mm. And the Kalos Champion or the Elite Four?”

Viola sighed. “...Generally don’t trouble themselves with this sort of thing. Well, the Champion might, but he’s in Johto right now.”

Moon gave the appearance of pondering this for an amount of time that she figured would be proper. “So then that leaves us.” she said, finally. “And I’ve got a full brace of six ‘Mons here that are just  _ itching _ to be let out for a fight.”

Viola checked her own pokeballs. “This isn’t really my thing either, I have to admit. I’m kind of out of my depth. I do  _ tournaments _ , not… whatever’s going to go on in there.” She bit her lip and looked apologetic.

Moon stood up. “That’s fine. You make with the camera-ing. If this thing goes south, you’ve got to get photographic evidence to the International Police. I have plenty of experience with these kinds of dust-ups.” If she could thank Team Skull for  _ literally anything at all _ , it would have to be giving her the experience getting into battles that were completely and totally unregulated, unsanctioned, and largely unsafe in almost every way that counted. “I’m going to go take out some frustrations on some pollen smugglers.”

_ ~~~ _

As far as plans go, it went about as well as ‘complete frontal assault’ could have been expected to go. The fact that Moon caught the smugglers by surprise worked in her favor, and the fact that her team was highly trained made most of the battles more or less trivial. She knew she had backup in the form of Viola taking evidence to the police, so this gave her the internal justification to be a little reckless. This was another thing that ended up working in her favor, as most people, when outnumbered, would go on the defensive.

Instead, Moon placed herself squarely between her adversaries and the basket full of pokeballs containing Ribombee. Ultimately, she didn’t care about the honey one way or the other. What had  _ really _ made her angry was that all these Ribombee had been taken from their natural habitat and brought all the way out to Kalos. It was one thing to train and care for one, but it was another to round up a colony  _ en masse _ , relocate them to an unfamiliar place, and just let them loose without any regard for the local ecosystem. 

She had to reflect for a moment that this was part of the influence that Lillie had on her. Before meeting Lillie, she likely wouldn’t have cared as much as she did. Now, though, the anger she was feeling was almost  _ tangible _ .

“Aaaaaah!!!” she yelled, commanding her pokemon in another all-out attack. Anger made her dangerous, which was contributing to her victory. However, anger also made her  _ unobservant _ , which contributed to  _ her _ being taken by surprise by a man at least twice her size who came at her and tried to knock her pokeballs out of her hands before she could send their contents into the fray. 

She knew her mistake the instant she saw the physical attack come out of the corner of her vision. She gritted her teeth and tried to jump back, but she was just a fraction of a second too slow. She lost her grip on the pokeball she was about to open and stumbled backward against the basket of contained Ribombee, knocking several to the ground around her. Before she could get her balance back, the large man grabbed her wrist. To his credit, he didn’t spout a lame one-liner, but the angry, intimidating look on his face spoke volumes as his other hand wound up for a strike that Moon knew was about to knock her out cold. Her eyes reflexively squeezed shut even as she prepared herself to duck, dodge, or hit back in any way that she could.

The blow never landed. 

Her eyes shot open and the first thing she saw was a wall of pink in front of her and the offending goon scrambling to get on his feet. She realized in an instant that he had been knocked over by roughly sixteen pounds of flying clefairy. As Moon got her feet under her again, the clefairy was joined by a figure dressed all in white with light blonde shoulder-length hair.

“Hey! If you lay another  _ hand _ on my  _ friend _ , I swear by all the stars in the sky I will  _ end _ you!”

_ Lillie. _

Moon knew that voice.  _ Would _ know that voice. No matter how much time had passed, from the moment she had met the girl until her own dying breath, she would know that voice.

_ Lillie. You came for me. _

Nevermind that the thought made no sense, as how would Lillie have even known Moon was anywhere in Kalos much less at that exact place right then? Regardless, it was the one thought that permeated her mind and froze her in her tracks.

Lillie turned to her and snapped her fingers right in front of Moon’s face. “Hey! Focus! You’re a trainer, remember?  _ Look around you! _ ”

Moon was momentarily confused, but then she realized what Lillie was talking about. She was a trainer, and even if the last of her own pokeballs had rolled halfway across the room, she was surrounded by replacements. The moment this thought registered, she crouched down and started grabbing and throwing pokeballs as fast as she could. She knew that her decidueye could hold her own, but she had seen at least one of her other ‘mons go down. She was past playing fair. She was going to fill this room with ribombee and then sort everything out later.

She didn’t know what was going to happen once all the ribombee were free. Had she really thought about it, she would have realized there was at least an even chance that they would all turn on  _ her _ and that she would have to flee for her life. What  _ actually _ happened was that the swarm rallied around a single ribombee and formed a buzzing, flitting wall between the two trainers and their adversaries. Then, the wall advanced, quickly isolating the few trained pokemon that the smugglers had been utilizing and driving them back, stinging them until they fainted and returned to their owners.

Then, just in time to be too late to provide meaningful help in anything but the actual arrest, Viola and several agents of the International Police burst through the warehouse door, ‘mons and handcuffs at the ready. The swarm of ribombee flew back to Lillie and Moon and, for the most part, all returned to their individual pokeballs. One ribombee, though, remained out and mobile, flying around Moon and Lillie in circles and spirals and figure-eights. 

Moon took a deep breath, and turned to Lillie. She didn’t know what she was going to say, only that no words would ever properly convey the feelings in her heart. 

She was saved from probable embarrassment when Lillie said, “We’ll talk later. You need to be the Champion right now. So go. Do that. You’re the one Gladion sent here. I’m just a girl who was in the right place at the right time. Do you  _ understand _ ?”

Moon nodded. And then, just like that, the mask was on. 

The Champion-in-Absentia of the Alola Islands Region of the Pokemon League went over to give her statement to the International Police, as the Innocent Bystander watched from the corner of the room.

_ ~~~ The Single Step: Moon ~~~ _

_ Later _ , as it were, happened when Viola led the pair of them back to Lumiose City and realized that they needed some time to discuss things in private. During the time that she had to focus on giving her statement to the International Police and the subsequent silent, awkward bike ride back up the road to the city, Moon had a lot of time to process Lillie’s presence and all the things it might mean. She knew there were things she had to say in person that didn’t translate well into letters, but she didn’t know where to begin. So, she started off by buying another couple of honey-cakes and finding a nice park bench for the two of them to sit on while they decided how to have this conversation.

Thankfully, Lillie broke the silence first. “I was gone longer than I intended to be. I know. I mean. I’m  _ still _ gone, if you want to get into the technicality of it. It’s just.” She looked down at the honey-cake she had only taken a couple of bites of.

Moon couldn’t take it anymore. She had never been one for subtlety or subtext or sub- _ anything _ , and she had been pining for this girl for  _ a while _ . No matter what other feelings it gave Moon every time she caught herself getting distracted or wistful or needy, she had to admit that she was getting  _ quite _ annoyed with herself. So, she was going to confront this thing head-on and see what came of it.

“Lillie, why are you here?” she asked. She realized that came out a little more harsh than she intended, but there was no way she was going to be able to keep steady throughout this. She may as well accept that nothing was going to sound right.

Lillie took a breath and then replied, “Viola sent two letters. One to Aether Foundation, where, presumably, my dear  _ brother _ read it and decided to send you here instead of coming himself. And another to Professor Oak in Kanto. I… was staying with him. To learn. So, I saw the letter, and I came here. I probably got here about the same time you did.”

“You thought Gladion was going to be here.” Moon said, flatly.

Lillie winced at that, then shook her head. “No, I really,  _ really _ didn’t. I actually figured it  _ would _ be you. I hoped it would be you.” she said. “I… I came here for you,  _ ma Lune _ .”

Moon felt that familiar pang of longing, of needing, of emptiness when Lillie used that pet name that she’d given her so long ago, literally ‘my moon’ in a language Moon did not, herself, know. Lillie had taught her another word, too, but she wasn’t ready to use that one. Not yet. “Lillie, I know that you needed to be away from Alola. To do what you had to do. To get stronger. To  _ understand _ more of the world. But can I say…” she looked over at her blonde beauty, “Today, you saved me. You  _ are _ strong. So why, Lillie? Why…” Moon trailed off.

Lillie glanced over to Moon, finally, one hand coming up to tuck a lock of stray, shoulder-length blonde hair behind her ear. “Why what,  _ ma Lune _ ?”

Moon bit her lip. Did she really want to say this? Did she really want to take this dive into an ocean of feelings that could either be warm or cold, safe or filled with deadly, jagged rocks of rejection? 

_ If I never jump, I will never know. It will always look like an ocean of blue.  _

_ I have to know, though. _

“Why… why can’t you be strong and also be  _ mine _ ?” There it was, the words she had tried to write so many times and always discarded them in favor of talking about  _ literally anything else _ . Now it was her turn to look down at the ground and at her own honey-cake she had barely touched and at anything else besides Lillie’s beautiful face. If the rejection came, she didn’t want to see it coming. She could allow herself this cowardice.

But just like before in the warehouse, the blow didn’t land.

Instead, she felt Lillie’s slender hand rest on hers. “Did you ever… for one moment… think that I was not?”

Moon’s eyes widened and her head shot up, and when it she turned to the side she found herself looking directly into Lillie’s eyes. Lillie’s face was mere inches from her own, and as her mouth hung open on what she could only imagine was dumb surprise, she saw Lillie lean in and felt her soft lips against her cheek.

This was what she wanted. This was what she craved. And now…

“I didn’t  _ think _ , I  _ feared _ . Because distance is hard, and not having your hand to hold is hard, and now that I’m beside you again I don’t want to go back to that.” Moon said, her words increasing their tempo until they were just breathless rambling that was spilling from her mouth.

“I do not know what tomorrow holds,  _ ma Lune _ . I haven’t thought about it. I don’t know if I should go back to Alola and be  _ Lusamine’s daughter _ again. But right here, right now, I am just a girl who was in the right place at the right time.” she said with a smile. “Do...you  _ understand _ ?” she asked, the words an echo of what she had said earlier. And yet…

The meaning was so very different.

Moon leaned in and pressed her lips against Lillie’s, and the softness, the tenderness, and the subtle strength present in the kiss that Lillie returned was everything she had spent so many nights imagining it would be. And more.

When the kiss broke, she whispered, “Yes,  _ ma Fleur _ . I understand completely.”

_ ~~~ Epilogue, the First: Ribombee ~~~ _

Ninten was quite exhausted after leading the great charge in order to defend the Bright Yellow Flower-Human and the Darker But More Familiar-Human, and yet he still did not go back into his ball. Thankfully, the pair of new Humanfriends didn’t make him. In fact, they made delighted sounds as he flitted about from flower to flower in the place they took him to, one of the only truly nice flower areas in the large and mostly not-natural place that the humans preferred to spend most of their time in. Ninten didn’t understand this, but humans were so very strange and Ninten understood that different creatures preferred different habitats. Some liked to live in water, and to Ninten, that was altogether much worse.

Ninten knew that some of his fellow creatures preferred to stay with one human. He also knew that many preferred to stay with  _ no _ humans and to just be themselves out in nature. Until now, Ninten hadn’t known  _ what _ he wanted to do.

Now he did. 

Now, Ninten wanted to be with  _ both _ of these humans. To learn their language, to listen to them, and above all, to bring a little bit of joy into their lives. He recognized that this was a thing the humans needed to be reminded of sometimes. That was why creatures like Ninten existed, after all. Without them, the humans would be so sad that they would probably all stop existing. No creature can live without joy, Ninten knew. He had also seen that, apart, these two humans did not have as much joy as they did  _ together _ . So, he wanted to stay with them.

When the two humans went into one of the large unnatural structures, one that was like a hive and also not like a hive, Ninten followed. When they went into one of the not-comb-shaped sections, Ninten followed. They let him, which he thought must mean that they were pleased with the joy he brought them. When they lay on the large soft thing together and spoke in the human language to each other, Ninten flitted around until he was simply too tired. When the human language went soft and when saltwater fell from their eyes, Ninten flitted toward where the last light of the day came in through the clear, yet solid, opening and basked in that light until he fell asleep.   


_ ~~~ Epilogue, the Second: Lillie ~~~ _

Lillie had told herself when she left home that the act of leaving meant that she was never going to cry again. This had, of course, been proven false several times over her travels, but she at least thought that she was getting better about that. She had only cried a couple of times since leaving Alola, and both of those times were when she had read Moon’s letters. They weren’t tears of sadness, she had figured. It was more accurate to say that they were tears of loneliness. There was a part of her that had been empty ever since leaving. It was the same part of her that had been empty before she had met Moon, it was just that at that time she hadn’t known it was there.

How do you understand the absence of something unless you have been filled with it?

The tears now weren’t those same tears of sadness. They were a release, really, of something that had been building up since the moment she had stepped onto that boat and sailed off for Kanto. Here, now, letting that release happen was a good thing. And necessary. After that, she could be okay.

She didn’t know what she wanted. She didn’t know what she  _ needed _ . All she knew was that whatever it was that she wanted  _ or _ needed, she would have it. Her Moon would be there to provide. 

And that was the problem.

She had to do these things on her own.

But maybe, just maybe, she didn’t have to  _ be _ alone while she did.

Maybe Gladion could be the brother she needed. Maybe Moon could be the  _ lover _ she needed.

Maybe.

Maybe.

A world of maybes.

Right now, this night, she was just a girl. And maybe, she could let herself  _ be _ just a girl. Before any decisions had to be made.

Yes, Lillie thought. That sounded right.

“I like your hair like that.” Moon said, breaking the reverie that she had been circling through ever since the tears stopped. 

“I… didn’t do it for you.” Lillie said. It wasn’t a harsh statement. Her voice was shaky, but it was warm. She just felt like it was something she needed to make sure she said.

“I know.” Moon said. “But I can still like it,  _ ma Fleur _ .”

Lillie’s heart jumped at the endearment, buzzing around like their new ribombee. “Yes.” she said. “I kind of prefer it that you  _ do _ like it. But it’s still for me. My hair. Not anyone else’s. Never again.”

Moon nodded, and then leaned in to kiss the tears that still remained on her cheeks. “Your hair. Your clothes. Your beauty. That I will appreciate for everything that it is.”

This warmth brought a smile to Lillie’s face. “Yeah. Let’s start there, okay?”

Moon’s answer was not conveyed in words. Journeys of thousands of miles began with single steps, it was said. What gets left out is that each mile of those journeys is itself just single steps strung together into the pathway that makes up a lifetime. 

These steps, Lillie, thought, felt right, no matter what the path ended up being.

_ ~~~ Fin ~~~ _


End file.
